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Hey Half-Life fans looking for any kind of Half-Life fix to fill the void in your life created by Half-Life never getting a proper ending, I have some cool tech news for you.
If you happen to own an Android-powered smart watc...

Every now and then, Twitter throws a wonderful iOS recommendation my way and I'm immediately captivated. Today, it's Joel McDonald's Prune, "a game about the beauty and joy of cultivation."
By smartly slicing off a tree's gro...

We've got less than a week to download The Rhythm of Figthers - SNK Original Sound Collection before SNK Playmore removes the game from the Apple App Store and Google Play. The company thanked fans for their support but did n...

I've had my eye on Alphabear since seeing the art director tweet out some pictures of the cute bears featured in the game, as shown in the video above. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it trending on Twitter a...

Nintendo's collaboration with Japanese mobile giant DeNA will result in one game by the end of 2015 and four more titles leading up to April 2017, according to DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako.
"Nintendo has by far the best gamin...

As we noted last week, the Mac port of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is plagued with issues.
This doesn't seem uncommon these days, but remember that Naoki Yoshida built A Realm Reborn back up from Final Fantasy XIV's ini...

Nintendo is getting into the mobile games space with its partner, DeNA, who will help with the "service side of things." Responding to an investor question about how games will be sold, CEO Satoru Iwata explained that, first ...

Players of Final Fantasy XIV are reporting major performance issues in the recently released Mac client. Low framerates, hanging launchers, and graphical errors are all being seen.
On the official forums, and reddit, many pla...

In the wake of the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, the social rift in the United States is again glaringly apparent. Hatred and racism are at the forefront of this tragedy, but issues such as gun ownership and histori...

Square Enix have announced that Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation is coming to iOS and Android devices right now. It literally just got released for the fairly hefty price of $14.99.
The game originally came out in ye old...

With Desktop Dungeons now available for iPad and Android tablets, I can easily see it becoming an obsession all over again. This is $10, straight up; no in-app purchases, no bullshit. The Enhanced Edition's daily challenges a...

May 26 //
Jordan DevoreCreator Ben Esposito describes his game as a "whimsical physics toy," and that's apt. A racoon chucks donuts from an airship and also rides a scooter, sometimes. Objects and animals topple when you trip them (and you will trip them). Puzzles feel organic, not forced.
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Early on, you'll discover that consuming fire and corn will cause popcorn to shoot back out of the hole (which you can then eat, obviously). Later, nabbing two rabbits results in lil babies spilling out of the pit. Another level involves interrupting an ant picnic with fireworks.
The more I played, the more I didn't want to stop. The hungry hole is one of those mechanics that instantly makes sense but never seems to lose its energy or appeal. It just feels right. I wish I could've beaten the whole game in one sitting, right then and there, but this was only a preview. Donut County wont be ready for PC, Mac, and iOS until later this year. I'll be waiting.
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Unwinding: The Video GameIn Katamari Damacy, you roll up stuff. Small stuff, to start. Then cars, ships, buildings, mountains and, eventually, entire worlds. In Donut County, you slide an insatiable hole around to help it eat anything it can fit inside its maw. The more the hole consumes, the bigger it becomes.
Where does it end up? How big can the hole grow? I'm not sure. But damn do I want to find out.

After almost 20 years, LucasArts' Grim Fandango was remastered by Double Fine Productions. It released in January on the PlayStation 4, PS Vita, PC, Mac, and Linux to mostly positive reception. Starting today, it wi...

The guy who brought Snake to Nokia phones in the late '90s, Taneli Armanto, has been working on a free-to-play reboot of the classic game called Snake Rewind. It's releasing next Thursday for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone....

Duck Hunt was first released on April 21, 1984. That makes it 31 years old today, making it 9 years older than your average debuting porn star, and just 2 years older than McDonald's icon Mac Tonight. I really would hav...

Spiderweb Software’s not having a good time as of late. No one really pays much attention to them most of the time, but the fact they still pump out very niche retro-style CRPGs after 20 years is a really nice thin...

The last time I wrote about Samorost 3, I expressed surprise and delight that Amanita Design was making another one of these charming point-and-click adventure games. Today, a year and a half later, I could do the same -- I ...

The first adventure game made exclusively for Apple Watch, Watch Quest: Heroes of Time, has just been announced by WayForward. Your iPhone will serve as your kingdom, while your journey takes place on your shiny new Appl...

Blizzard's digital collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (that's harthstone, not herthstone) will be available as a free download on iPhone and Android phones beginning today.
If you mispronounce the name, Kyle will break into your home, drop your phone in the toilet, and steal all of your rice. He told me that and whispered while saying it so he means business here.

For Apple Watch owners looking to pass the time playing games rather than paying attention to school or their jobs, choices so far have been limited to browsing social media. Thankfully, the first game has finally been approv...

Nintendo is finally entering the mobile game space through a collaboration with DeNA. Why now? As CEO Satoru Iwata explained to TIME, "We have come to the stage where we can say that we will be able to develop and operate so...

It's rare that I cover mobile games here but I couldn't let Alto's Adventure slide by me.
This is pegged as an "endless snowboarding odyssey" with a one-button trick system and 180 goals to best. Other things worth noting be...

In the late '80s the Carmen Sandiego series was immensely popular and over 20 states were looking to get in on that red hot edutainment action. Details are sketchy on exactly what happened, but Where in North Dakota is Carme...

Gathering Sky (formerly named Apsis) is an upcoming game from indie studio A Stranger Gravity. This will be the studio's first commercial release, and it's looking pretty neat!
You start off as a single bird soaring through ...

With so much crap out there, it's pleasant to see the mobile-games marketplace value quality. Ustwo Games has released a bunch of data for its delectable iOS and Android puzzler Monument Valley, including sales and revenue fi...

Papers, Please, Lucas Pope's 2013 indie standout about an immigration officer just trying to provide for his family, makes its debut on iPad tomorrow. However, the version available on the App Store will be slightly diff...

While pretty much everyone reading this knows that "free" is a misnomer in the mobile arena, a lot of people probably aren't aware that when they download a "free" game, the vast majority of the content can be gated off by IA...

Nov 17 //
Patrick Hancock
Tengami (Wii U [reviewed], iOS)Developer: NyamyamPublisher: NyamyamRelease Date: November 13, 2014 (Wii U)MSRP: $9.99 (Wii U), $4.99 (iOS)
Tengami is one of those games that perfectly blends together its gameplay and its aesthetic. In fact, it's the aesthetic that actually determines the gameplay. The entire game has a paper-thin look, from the main character to all of the environments. When the main character turns, he's paper thin and everything has a static yet lively sense to it.
The gameplay also runs with this idea, as most of the player interaction involves moving or folding paper to create new landscapes an solve puzzles. All of the gameplay happens on the Wii U GamePad, meaning Tengami is best suited for off-TV play. Everything also displays on the TV, but since players have to look where they're tapping, it's impossible to watch the TV and play. It's great if others want to help solve the puzzles, but the puzzles don't really need help solving.
Moving around is done by tapping where you want the main character to walk to. And I mean walk. The game has a deliberately slow pace, which isn't too much of an issue except when players want to roam around to explore and find hidden Miiverse stamps, or get stuck on a puzzle and wander aimlessly. Most of the time players will tap on their destination and enjoy the sights and sounds while their character moseys on over. However, it can be a bit of a pain when the destination is far away, since players can only tap to the edge of the screen. What ends up happening is a constant tapping of the edge to continuously create new waypoints, which is tedious.
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Other than moving around, the main mechanic is solving a variety of puzzles. These puzzles often revolve around interacting with pieces of the environment to create a new path or get a required item. Other times the puzzles require the player to truly be observant of the surroundings in a way that is unique to Tengami. The game always shows the player where they can touch in order to push and pull pieces of the puzzle, but it is up to the player to figure out what to do with them.
There's only one puzzle that really requires critical thinking, which is unfortunate since it's the one puzzle that left me satisfied. Hints are also available for those who get stuck. There's only one hint for each puzzle, and it pretty much tells players exactly what to do. My advice would be to use hints as a very last resort!
The aesthetic is what really shines. The paper-thin look of everything gives it a crisp and vibrant feel, while the absolutely fantastic soundtrack calms and soothes the eardrums. Everything has a feudal Japanese theme to it, with plenty of cherry blossoms and temples. I even learned some kanji from playing!
Tengami is clearly a game that is meant to be a relaxing and enjoyable time. The main character walks slowly. The music is extremely smooth and calming. And there's only one puzzle that will likely wrack anyone's brain. It's also a bit short, taking about two hours to complete, and it's worth noting that the Wii U version is $5 more than the iOS version, with the only addition seemingly the Miiverse stamps scattered around. Tengami is a decent way to spend an afternoon, but it left me wanting more than what was there.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

Pull-a pull-a pull-aTengami has been out on iOS devices for quite some time but has now finally made its debut on Wii U. I think it's great that the Wii U has the perfect setup for iOS games to make a pretty seamless transition thanks to th...

Disney has pulled two mobile Star Wars games -- Tiny Death Star and Star Wars Assault Team -- and in the case of the latter, developer Nimblebit wasn't even given a heads up.
"We had no prior knowledge that the game would be ...